“What do you feel like eating today,” my partner Erica asked when we cleared the hospital from a sick call.
“I don’t know,” I said. Some days I don’t eat, others I like to take advantage of the myriad of culinary offerings in the city, Jamaican, Dominican, and Vietnamese among my favorites. A number of years ago, I even had a blog, A Paramedic’s Guide to Takeout, about all the good places to eat in and around the city.
“What’s that place in Newington you like to eat at? The hot dog place?” she asked. “What do you get when you go there?”
“You mean Doogies? I like the clam strip roll.”
“Maybe we’ll get to Newington later. It’s still a little early to eat.”
Shortly after noon when we cleared the hospital again after a chest pain call, she said, we had to swing by the office so she could get something out of her car. She’d already cleared it with ops. When we got back to the base, we went inside. Some of the supervisors were sitting around the big table in the main crew room eating lunch. “There he is,” they said. “We’ve got a plaque and lunch from Doogies for you.”
30 years ago, I worked my first shift as a paramedic in Hartford, Connecticut. Now I was getting my 30 year free lunch – clam strips, fries and a coke in a Styrofoam cup with ice. They took a picture of me getting my thirty-year plaque in front of the Wall of Heroes, shook my hand, and then we sat down and ate lunch, told a few stories, and then Erica and I went back on the road. “You got me good, on that.” I told her. “The clam strips were good.” Instead of a roll, they had gotten me the full entree so I had half left over for dinner.
That’s not all I got for making it 30 years. Every five years the company sends you a gift catalogue and you get to pick one. The gifts get better the more years you put in. My 10-year gift was a 9 piece knife set. For 15, I got a GPS that my wife lost – that was before we all had GPS on our phone. At 20, I got an 13 piece knife set. Twenty-five years I got a snow blower that was junk. It blew the snow maybe two feet and couldn’t handle more than an inch. I remember many years ago seeing that at 30 years you could get a two-night stay at a Motel 6, but that wasn’t in the gift catalogue anymore. I went with what had worked in the past – the knives. This year I got 16. I ‘ve used the old ones all these years, but they are old and need replacement — maybe like me. I’ll still keep using them along with the new ones. I won’t thrown them away.
I don’t think I am going to make 35 years. This last six months have been rough on me with knee and back issues and a long bout of pneumonia. I have been working out again lately and feel stronger. That day I did a couple walkups carrying all my gear, and couple stair chair carry downs, lifted some heavy patients and felt all right. Enough to keep working for now.
